I have been saying for years that the more the hands of people interfere between the original food and our mouths, the worse off we are.  Seldom, however, do I come across quite such an excellent illustration.

In my article on Prostate health I wrote"There is a connection between drinking milk and prostate cancer - and the worst offender is low fat milk,  as researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center (Philadelphia) discovered. Men who reported the highest intake of low-fat milk were 1.5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer compared to men who had the lowest intake, but whole milk intake was NOT found to be linked to increased risk."

Now it appears that whole fat milk is not only not connected to increased risk, but is found to reduce risk.

Dietary intake of vitamin K and risk of prostate cancer

Effect of food composition on human absorption of Vitamin K

Even better would be whole, RAW milk - got REAL milk?

In 2008, a study at P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching the cell's core energy source, or mitochondrion, and crippling its function. The study is published in the March  2008 edition of the journal, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology.

The study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted (pre-treated with the antioxidant, resveratrol, and then irradiated) the combination induced a type of cell death called apoptosis, an important goal of cancer therapy.

Mounting evidence shows red wine antioxidant kills cancer

This lays out the reasons to stay fit in terms that cannot be denied!

Increasing BMI was associated with increased risk of the following cancers: endometrial cancer (trend in relative risk per 10 units = 2.89), adenocarcinoma of the esophagus (2.38), kidney cancer (1.53), leukemia (1.50), multiple myeloma (1.31), pancreatic cancer (1.24), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (1.17), ovarian cancer (1.14), breast cancer in post-menopausal women (1.40), colorectal cancer in pre-menopausal women (1.61), and all cancers combined (1.12). Similar associations were found between BMI and risk of mortality from cancer. The authors state, "Among postmenopausal women in the UK, 5% of all cancers (about 6000 annually) are attributable to being overweight or obese. For endometrial cancer and adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus, body mass index represents a major modifiable risk factor; about half of all cases in postmenopausal women are attributable to overweight or obesity."

Increasing Body Mass Index Linked to Increased Incidence of Cancer

Just a quick posting of a handy guide for information about ingredients in cosmetics:

Cosmetic Safety database

This information is so important, and has received so little attention, that I amposting it in its entirey here without further comment.

Dr. Ralph Moss, of the Newsletter THE MOSS REPORT at www.cancerdecisions.com writes a carefully structured last-word-on-the subject report.  He has a more detailed report available for purchase here: https://webssl.cancerdecisions.com/list/optin.php?form_id=29

 NEW STUDY CLARIFIES ROLE OF ANTIOXIDANTS
 DURING RADIATION TREATMENT

An important paper on the interaction of antioxidants and radiation
therapy was recently published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Interestingly, despite the significance of its findings, this study has
received virtually zero attention from the scientific community or the
media.

 As background, in April 2005, Isabelle Bairati, MD, PhD, and her
colleagues at the Hôtel-Dieu de Quebec Research Centre and the Universite
Laval completed a ten-year study on the interaction of antioxidants and
radiation therapy. This was hailed as the first placebo-controlled,
double-blind, randomized trial assessing the effect of supplementation with
antioxidant vitamins during radiation therapy. The study concluded that
supplements of synthetic beta-carotene (30 mg per day) or alpha tocopherol
(400 IU per day) had a harmful effect on cancer patients. In particular, the
authors claimed that the cancer recurrence rate was 40 percent higher among
patients who had been randomly assigned to the supplementation arm of the
trial. They therefore called on patients and physicians to exert caution in
using antioxidants until new evidence could be provided by future trials.

 Kedar Prasad, PhD, and other proponents of the concurrent use of
antioxidants during cancer treatment criticized the Bairati paper. They were
disappointed that Bairati and colleagues had used ordinary alpha tocopherol
as their choice of vitamin E when Prasad's previous work had shown that it
was not just alpha tocopherol but alpha tocopherol succinate that had the
anticancer efficacy. They also felt that natural forms of the vitamin were
more effective than synthetic, drug store-type vitamins. But, by and large,
the medical world accepted the Bairati trial as definitive proof that
antioxidants interfered with radiation therapy. Word spread like wildfire in
oncology circles, confirming a long-held belief that antioxidants interfered
with standard cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy. The take
away message, as stated in a Universite Laval press release, was that
"Supplements May Speed Up Development of Cancer." Advocates of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) were confounded by this large and impressive study.

 But now the other shoe has dropped.

 In December 2007, Dr. Bairati and her Quebec colleagues published a major
modification of their previous conclusions. Further analysis revealed, they
said, that the danger of synthetic antioxidants was limited to one
particular sub-population: cigarette smokers - specifically, those who
continued to smoke during radiation treatment. The authors analyzed the
outcome in 540 patients who had been given radiation for head and neck
cancers. During the follow-up period, 119 patients had a recurrence of their
disease and 179 died. Smokers were the group with the worst prognosis.
However, astonishingly, smoking in the period leading up to or following
radiation therapy did not modify the effects of the two supplements. It was
only smoking during the course of radiation therapy that led to a
statistically significant increase in the risk of a recurrence. It was a
large enough increase to skew the statistics for the group as a whole,
leading to the erroneous conclusion that antioxidants interfered with
radiotherapy in the general patient population.

 Statistically, increased risk is generally expressed as a "hazard ratio"
(abbreviated HR). In this study, current smokers had an HR of 2.41 for
recurrence, in other words more than double the chance of a recurrence
compared to the rest of the patient population. The HR for death from any
cause was a similar 2.26. But the hazard ratio for dying of their initial
head and neck cancer was a whopping 3.38 in patients who got radiation,
smoked and also received a single synthetic antioxidant.

 "These results could best be explained by the hypothesis that the combined
exposures reduced the efficacy of radiation therapy," Bairati and her
colleagues now say. "Particular attention should be devoted to prevent
patients from both smoking and taking antioxidant supplements during
radiation therapy" (Meyer 2007).

 According to the National Cancer Institute, 85 percent of head and neck
cancers are linked to tobacco use. (Alcohol use further exacerbates this
trend.) This has been widely known for years, and so it is shocking that
there are still people so hopelessly addicted to tobacco that they not only
continue to smoke after they've been diagnosed with head and neck cancer but
continue to smoke right through their radiation therapy. It was in this
subset of particularly unhealthy individuals that antioxidants were
associated with an increased risk of disease progression. As Bairati and
colleagues suggest, such individuals should definitely not compound their
problems by then taking a synthetic antioxidant.

But the more important lesson for patients and practitioners is that
antioxidants do NOT generally interfere with the effects of radiation
therapy, as was previously suggested. They do NOT increase the risk of a
recurrence, of death from head and neck cancer, or of overall mortality in
the average patient. In this updated study, the harmful effect of synthetic
antioxidants was entirely limited to those relatively few tobacco-addicted
patients who continued to smoke during their radiation therapy. Thus, the
major premise underpinning oncologists' condemnation of antioxidants during
radiation therapy has crumbled, although few seem to have noticed so far.

 

Remember the old saying, that when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail?  That's what we have to bear in mind when we hear the dermatologists warning against sun exposure:  all they are thinking about is skin.

Now a new study positively states, that the cancer protecting benefits of modest sun exposure generally, far outweigh the particular risks of skin cancer from over-exposure.

Sun Exposure Cuts Cancer Risk at 16 Sites, Study Says

Researchers calculated that given the same amount of time spent outside, people living just below the equator in Australia produced 3.4 times more vitamin D than people in Britain and 4.8 times more than Scandinavians.

Consider also Cod Liver Oil or Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) capsules

The usefulness of hemp is hard to underestimate, and it is a pity that the recreational drug use of a form of hemp has not been better separated from its commercial use in the minds of the authorities than it has. Here is a report that will open your eyes and make you stare!

Jarrow has just made both the seeds, and an excellent protein from Hemp available, which makes this research even more apropos - it might be a useful protective measure, if nothing else!

Topic:	A Compound found in Cannabis May Prevent the Spread of Breast Cancer
Keywords:	CANCER, BREAST CANCER, METASTASIS - Cannabis, Cannabidiol, Chemotherapy
Reference:	"Cannabidiol as a novel inhibitor of Id-1 gene expression in aggressive breast cancer cells," McAllister SD, Christian RT, et al, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 2007; 6(11): 2921-7. (Address: California Pacific Medical Center, Research Institute, 475 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. E-mail: mcallis@cpmcri.org ).
Summary:	In a study involving aggressive human breast cancer cells, cannabidiol - a compound found in cannabis with a low-toxicity profile - was found to block the activity of a gene called Id-1, thereby reducing the aggressiveness of the cancer cells. In previous research, the authors had determined that metastatic breast cancer cells were less invasive and less metastatic when Id-1 was down-regulated. In this study, cannabidiol (CBD) was found to down regulate Id-1 expression in aggressive human breast cancer cells; the concentrations effective at doing so correlated with the concentrations required to inhibit the proliferative and invasive phenotype of breast cancer cells. In a concentration-dependent manner, CBD inhibited Id-1 expression at the mRNA and protein level. According to the authors, the effects of CBD appear to result from the inhibition of the Id-1 gene at the promoter level. CBD did not inhibit invasiveness in cells that ectopically expressed Id-1. The authors c onclude that, "…CBD represents the first nontoxic exogenous agent that can significantly decrease Id-1 expression in metastatic breast cancer cells leading to the down-regulation of tumor aggressiveness." Given the limited therapeutic interventions available for the treatment of aggressive and metastatic breast cancer, and given the toxicity and other side effects associated with chemotherapy, these results offer hope that a non-toxic alternative to chemotherapy may be on the horizon.

I remember getting spanked as a child, for a sin which most people would consider a punishment in itself - drinking the Cod Liver Oil.  Did I know I was deficient in D?  Very possibly!  Certainly in light of all the new research I have added a goodly amount of it to my regimen, and I imagine you will want to as well.

Let me give you a hint:  50% of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D - and 60% off cancers are now considered to be preventable by adequate Vitamin D levels.

I do not find the taste of Cod Liver Oil disagreeable - but it is also available in capsules.  Remember, though, that not all the capsules have the benefit of the Omega 3s which are naturally present in the liquid oil.

Vitamin D and Cancer

A selection of Vitamin D3 formulas

If it has ingredients, don't eat it, has been my philosophy. By which I mean, if there is more in there than the thing itself, leave it alone.

In addition, we nutritionists have warned over and over again that additives have their individual dangers: nitrates, MSG, high sodium, and on down the list.

Perhaps now the World Cancer Research Fund has come out and said it in so many words,   the day of doom has come for processed meats.

WCRF UK’s Recommendations for Cancer Prevention

I expect we have all hear that the incidence of cancer is falling in this country, perhaps we were even slightly encouraged by this news.  Granted, it was pretty obvious that the decrease was due in large part to the cessation of synthetic hormone use in menopausal women .. but even so, it was  a step in the right direction.

How much more alarming is it then, to discover that these heartening figures were incorrect:  that they in fact did not include ANY of the cancer cases under the care of the Veteran's administration. 

This means that despite the decrease in the hormonal cancers, between 40,000 and 70,000 cases a year have not been taken into account in the National figures.

VA Cancer Data Blockade May Imperil Surveillance

Add another plus for moderate coffee consumption.  Not only does it help with diabetes - see my previous post - but it appears to lower risk of liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma or HCC).

This study takes into account both  the fact that liver cancer is at a relatively high level in Japan, and that the Japanese are not heavy coffee drinkers to make a convincing case.  

As was the case in the previous study, how the coffee was brewed,  what degree of roast or what kind of bean was used, or whether cream and sugar were added is not specified - all facts it would be handy to know!

 Influence of Coffee Drinking on Subsequent Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

When one is diagnosed with a serious disease such as cancer, that is when the pedal meets the mettle. Nothing brings one face to face with life as she is lived, and one's place in the universe, like a possible death sentence.

This is a wonderful word for it: MINDFULNESS.  Yes, the mind becomes full, but it seems that filling it with worthwhile, valuable thoughts about the meaning of life and how precious it is, rather than with fear and disturbance, can contribute  significantly to a positive outcome. Not only that - for those who have advocated this approach all along, how empowering to finally see actual scientific validation. 

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Meditation, Yoga, Relaxation, Cortisol Reference: "One year pre-post intervention follow-up of psychological, immune, endocrine and blood pressure outcomes of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in breast and prostate cancer outpatients," Carlson LE, Speca M, et al, Brain Behav Immun, 2007 May 21; [Epub ahead of print]. (Address: Linda E. Carlson, Department of Psychosocial Resources, Tom Baker Cancer Centre Holy Cross Site, Alberta Cancer Board, 2202 Second St. S.W., Calgary, Alta., Canada T3B 0W7; Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada). Summary: In a study involving 49 patients with breast cancer and 10 patients with prostate cancer, participation in an 8-week "mindfulness-based stress reduction" (MBSR) program was found to enhance quality of life, reduce stress symptoms, reduce cortisol levels, improve immune patterns, reduce systolic blood pressure and improve mood. The 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program consisted of relaxation, meditation, gentle yoga, and a daily home practice. Various measurements were taken pre- and post-intervention, and at 6 and 12 months follow-up. Results of linear mixed modeling showed significant improvements in overall symptoms of stress after the intervention, which remained over the follow-up period. Reductions in pro-inflammatory cytokines, cortisol levels, systolic blood pressure, and mood disturbances were found. Furthermore, heart rate was positively associated with symptoms of stress. The results of this study suggest that participation in activities such as those included in this mindfulness-based stress reduction program may be of great benefit to cancer patients, with beneficial effects lasting well beyond the intervention. The authors conclude, "These pilot data represent a preliminary investigation of the longer-term relationships between MBSR program participation and a range of potentially important biomarkers."

Original here.

We can be grateful for the fact that somewhere in the world, there is an independent organization looking out for our health. 

Along with most nutritional experts, I have always harbored extreme doubts about the safety of Aspartame. Call me paranoid, but all artificial sweeteners worry me:  any time the hand of man interferes between a natural substance and what we put in our our mouths, I become concerned.

Now comes a study from the Ramazzine Institute in Italy frighteningly linking it to a dose dependent risk of cancer, particularly leukemia and lymphoma.

As this report says, "What if an estimated 100,000 breast cancer patients got drugs that did nothing to combat their cancer, but put them at risk for heart failure and leukemia?"

The drugs in question, anthracyclines turn out to have almost no effect in 92 percent of breast cancer cases. 

Weighing the benefit in 4% of patients against the possibility of heart attack or leukemia is a grave responsibility for a Doctor, and a horrible dilemma for a patient - always assuming they are given the facts and allowed to choose.

The only bright side is that the advance in knowledge this research brings may lead to more care in prescribing the drugs.

My article addressing Breast Cancer.

Consider IPT, gentler chemotherapy.

What a fascinating hormone Melatonin is turning out to be.

Over the past decade or so, Melatonin has been investigated for its role in treating cancer, as well as playing a role in its development, particularly with flight crews.

The latter is especially interesting when you consider that Melatonin has often been recommended for jet lag - I personally found it very helpful on my trips to Europe.

A recent Spanish study takes this a step further, and links low Melatonin levels to aging and inflammation. 

When I consider how many older people come to me complaining of insomnia, and the number of those who also have inflammatory conditions, and I correlate that with the fact that cancer risk rises as one ages -  a little supplementation with Melatonin begins to sound like a really good strategy.

My article on Melatonin

Melatonin Supplements